amy just keeps getting cooler. so very comfortable with who she is.
tamina may be an antagonist in this episode, but she’s universes away from philip’s pure evil vibe. actually philip’s name doesn’t really fit. as phil dick would tell us, ‘philip’ means ‘horselover’. philip is unlikely to be able to love anything but his own ego.

Tamina isn’t all that different from Brett, in behavior at a game which is explicitly competitive and FFA. I’m curious how she behaves at her home table, where being a team-player is more likely to be rewarded.

On the one hand, MegaBee, I agree completely. Affecting black/urban slang words when you’re neither black nor urban is much more likely to give offense than to be seen as cool or bonding behavior, unless there’s an established relationship. It’s an order of magnitude worse if one tries to go ‘all the way’ and affect the complete speech pattern. The problem is, the speaker comes off as inauthentic.

(I work in an ER in a disadvantaged area, so I’ve seen this happen. And I’m so white you could make a PB&J out of my flayed hide. I will neither confirm nor deny that I was the guilty party.)

On the other hand, I’ve been successful in creating a bonding moment by occasionally appropriating a little black/urban slang in an over-the-top, exaggerated white speech pattern. The exaggeration makes it Meta, which makes it funny. (Warning: YMMV) In Amy’s case, I can see that it’s possible she’s trying to do this very thing. “Celebratory headwear,” and “Allow me to…” are two tells.

The gripping hand is, I don’t think Amy has a Meta bone in her body. One of the things I love about her character is she’s delightfully unselfconscious, to the point of being almost naive. What you see is what you get, no deception, no hidden agendas, no reserve. I love Amy.

And, I love today’s strip. All three of my points are competing to create tension between Tamina, Amy, and me. Bravo, Brian.

Yeah, after reading some of the comments, I think I agree with a few of the… *ahem* politer comments. Since Brett’s not present at the tournament, she’s pretty much what I imagine that he’d be like in this situation. Taking out the competition, not giving the slightest crap what everyone else wants. She wants to win, and that’s the point.

It’s not like she’s pretending to be everyone’s friend, helping out… until the last possible second, and killing them all to take the prize. I imagine at a regular game she’s a lot like Brett. “Less talking, more looting.”